The present invention relates to an adjustable reel so arranged that it is formed from two halves which are preferably identical and may well be formed from a single mold and which are mirror images of each other. Each of the two halves comprises a principal reel flange and projecting segments which may be so arranged as to interleave with each other and may thereby be connected to form a shaft on which material may be wound.
One of the essential elements of the present invention is that the elements which project and interleave to form the shaft on which winding takes place form, together, a single continuous bore of circular cross-section which may constitute a single continuous bearing for the reel upon a mounting shaft, a driving shaft or a driven shaft. The shaft of the reel is arranged so that the flanges at opposite ends may be adjusted in their spacing from each other and become essentially continuous for the purpose of supporting the material to be wound between them Where the flanges are to be placed close together, the elements forming the shaft may extend from between the two flanges to the outside of the flanges, but in that case may form part of a driving or driven connection between the spool or reel and other mechanism.
While the terms "spool" and "reel" are often referred to interchangeably, for the purpose of the present description, a spool may be regarded as a device having a pair of parallel flanges and a shaft between on which the material is wound in a series of layers of helically-wound material. A reel may be regarded, as one in which the material to be wound extends at each turn essentially from one flange to the other and the material to be wound, as for instance in a sound tape machine or movie machine, comprises a plurality of successive rectangular cross-section layers substantially parallel to one another to be wound upon and coterminous with each other.
The utilization of reels and spools is well known. See, for instance, prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,743,209; 3,999,139; 4,068,808; 4,428,546; 4,471,920 and 4,570,469. See also Netherlands 1977 Pat. 7,512,207 and British 1976 Pat. 1,430,735. The structures in each case consist of a pair of flanges and a shaft between interconnecting the two flanges. Where the flanges have been made by a single mold so that opposite ends of the reel are mirror images of each other, the structures were each made with flanges and members extending from each flange to form at least part of the shaft of the spool reel. Where the shafts have been interconnected to form an integral reel unit, this interconnection has most frequently been a solid interconnection making the reel unit a completely integral element. Various means were required for mounting the spool unit, treating it primarily as a solid, single element.